Former W&M runner Moran perseveres to become Olympic hopeful

Dave Fairbank, dfairbank@dailypress.com | 757-247-4637

Ed Moran will tell you that there were times he thought he was finished running. The injuries, fractures, setbacks and disappointments both physical and mental exacted a toll on a guy whose outward calm masked an internal cauldron.

But through a combination of maturity, perseverance and sheer will, not to mention the gentle persuasion of his college coach, the 30-year-old former William and Mary standout figures to be in the mix for a U.S. Olympic team berth.

"I think most distance runners are addicts," Moran said wryly. "You can have one performance in a year's time frame and it will keep you coming back. Whether it's fortunate or unfortunate, I've had enough success sprinkled in, between some difficult periods, to keep me coming back."

For nearly a year, Moran has been, knock on wood, consistently healthy. Though his career was interrupted routinely going back to his college days, when given the opportunity to train and compete, he often delivered.

Moran is a professional, Nike-sponsored runner thanks to a breakthrough performance at the 2005 USA Track and Field championships, shortly after his final collegiate race for William and Mary. He cut 14 seconds off of his personal best and finished as the top amateur in the 5,000 meters (13:25.87), drawing a host of potential agents and professional interest literally minutes after the race concluded.

He won a gold medal in the 5,000 meters at the 2007 Pan Am Games. He finished fourth in the 10,000 meters at the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials, one spot and six seconds out of a berth on the national team. He finished second in the 10,000 meters at the 2010 USA Track and Field Championships. Days later, he won the national 10,000-meter road race championship in Atlanta.

In his first marathon, last fall in New York City, he finished 10th overall and was the third American, clocking 2 hours, 11 minutes, 47 seconds, a remarkable debut that exceeded all expectations, including his own.

"Ed has not reached his potential," said former W&M track coach Alex Gibby, who still coaches Moran from a distance at his current gig as cross country coach at Michigan. "I think he's capable of running 13:10 for 5,000 meters if the opportunity's right. … He's definitely got some steps ahead in the marathon and as well at 10,000 meters. There's not too many people at his age who have the aspirations to prove something, and he definitely does."

Moran credits Gibby with extending his running career. After breaking his foot during the NCAA regionals in cross country during his fifth year, he then developed a femoral stress fracture upon return to training. He thought he was done, since other injuries had shortened previous seasons.

But Gibby persuaded Moran to seek a sixth year of eligibility, if only to keep in his pocket should he regain his health and want to compete again. The school's compliance office and NCAA granted the request. Thus followed his 2005 season.

"If he hadn't talked me into it and I hadn't gotten that sixth year of eligibility, I probably wouldn't be running today," Moran said.

"I appreciate that he thinks that," Gibby said, "but it's him. Whatever you say about Ed, he has a very good sense of self. He's been able to balance a lot of things in his life and get to where he is."

Moran certainly balanced academics with running. He carried a double major in business and government as an undergraduate. He earned a Master's degree in public policy, and last May completed work toward an MBA.

"There are worse places to have four degrees from," he said.

Professional sponsorship permitted him to continue schooling, as well as serve as volunteer coach with the Tribe track team for the past several years.

Moran has endured a laundry list of injuries. He has had fractures and breaks in several bones up his left leg, from metatarsals to the tibia, femur and sacrum — the triangle-shaped bone at the base of the spine that adjoins the hips. He also had a stress fracture on the right side of the sacrum, in addition to surgery to address a case of plantar fasciitis.

"It's been a struggle," said Moran, a rail-thin 5-foot-10 and 126 pounds. "You want to be successful and you see other people having success and you're unable to do the things that can get you there. I'm always looking to the future, so I probably take injuries more to heart than some other people. If the injury is big enough, I'm looking at help-wanted ads and thinking about what I'm going to do next."

Moran's spate of good health allows him to think that the worst is behind him. Where many of his prior injuries were bone-related, recent issues have been tweaks to soft tissue — problems that don't hinder training for weeks or months at a time.

He currently has a mild case of tendinitis in his left foot, which could prevent him from running the 5,000 Friday at the annual Colonial Relays, but isn't likely to curtail training.

"I was operating with certain precepts of what I could and couldn't do," Moran said. "It wasn't volume (of work) that was breaking me down, it was the intensity. Knowing that has allowed me to change my training to address that.

"One of the things I love about running is it's a learning process. I'm constantly learning what my body can and cannot handle. It's all about training and adapting to whatever you discover."

Moran is focused on this summer's Olympic trials. First, he will try to hit the qualifying standard in both the 5,000 (13:20) and 10,000 meters (27:45) in separate meets in California later this month.

Moran plans to run both the 5,000 and 10,000 at the trials. The schedule is set up so that he can attempt both, with the 10,000 the first day. He thinks that he has a better chance to make the team in the 10K than the 5,000, because he isn't certain that he has the speed of several competitors in the shorter race.

"If I make the 10, the five would be a bonus," he said. "If I didn't make the 10, the five is another opportunity."

Neither Moran nor Gibby will speculate on the runner's chances to make the Olympic team, only that he is likely to perform and race well. There's ample motivation.

"For a guy that's 120 pounds and 5-10 or 5-11, he may not look the part," Gibby said, "but he's as tough as they come."